Nintendo: If you’re an indie, fuck you
Oh, stunning. Over on Develop, Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has spewed shit from his mouth in the form of words, splattering them all over the internet. He says Nintendo will embrace the independent developer, but “draws the line” with less-established garage outfits:
[Nintendo will] separate out the true independent developer versus the hobbyist.
Where we’ve drawn the line is we are not looking to do business today with the garage developer. In our view, that’s not a business we want to pursue.
Fuck you, Reggie. If ever I needed proof that Nintendo had utterly lost it regarding gaming, this is it. ‘Garage’ indies are the lifeblood of the industry—they always were. Hell, when the industry first started, tiny indies were pretty much it—those single coders who created innovative, exciting new product again and again.
In the modern age, there is a hell of a lot of crap on iOS, but to tar all hobbyists with the same brush is pretty much like saying “but we want to continue sucking up to majors, because they all do wonderful games, every time”. In other words, it’s bullshit.
Some home coders create the most wonderful games imaginable, free from the fury of focus groups. They are one person’s vision, not one person’s vision smashed to pieces by the so-called realities of modern videogame production, which forces games into neat little pre-packaged boxes. On iOS, many of the very best games have been created by home coders—hobbyists—holding down other jobs. Some of these guys have then gone on to become what our chum Reggie would call a “true independent developer”, but they’ve only been able to do so due to the App Store not drawing arbitrary lines in the sand of the kind Nintendo’s enforcing.
Still, you keep on going, Nintendo. Keep on releasing a new console every few years, supporting it with loads of great games for a few months, then reverting to getting people to buy new hardware (Look! This one’s ORANGE! And this one vaguely resembles the packaging of a game we put out in 1987!) rather than concentrating on games. You eschew the smaller indies that could make your hardware great. You continue on your downward slope, because, despite being a huge Nintendo fan for years, your attitude towards ‘garage’ developers makes me sick.
Wow, you have some really jaded, skewed, broken and pretty much focused on 1 platform opinion here. Good job on looking like a douche, 5 stars.
Yes. What a complete douche I am for suggesting Nintendo’s idiotic attitude towards indies is, in fact, idiotic. Given that I’ve at length and on many occasions criticised iOS for various things, I am, clearly ‘jaded’ and ‘skewed’. Still, thanks for commenting and having the guts to use your real name, lolcakes. Were your parents sugar-high hippies or something?
Right. One more reason to ignore that 3DS thing. Nintendo -following the success of the Wii and DS ranges- seems to have lost it, just as it lost it after the success of the NES. Over the top greed is never good; not even for a corporation.
@gnome: The dumb thing is, there’s absolutely NOTHING stopping Nintendo from opening up its platform for downloadable games. It has the best first-party IP in gaming, and that will never change, but iOS is giving it a smack from the indie side. But rather than make a change, Nintendo continues to fight with an old-guard attitude. I’ve absolutely no doubt the 3DS will sell loads of units, but why screw over ‘garage’ devs in a day an age where those guys are often producing really great content? Wouldn’t you rather have that on your platform than not? (Clearly not, in Nintendo’s case—they’re increasingly going for ‘tried and tested’ over innovation, which after the original DS is a huge pity.)
Indeed. Then again, it’s such a monolithic logic that has driven indie loving -and tons of casual- gamers to devices like the iPhone. I mean, even I will very soon be grabbing one…
The funny thing is, I come from a background of total Nintendo fanboyism regarding handhelds. I still have a GBA SP, a GBA Stupidly Tiny and a DS. But towards the end with the DS, I was mostly playing emulators. There just weren’t enough decent new games.
When the iPhone gaming scene first happened, I dismissed it. But then I got an iPhone. I think I’ve used my DS about twice since then, and I’ve not turned on my TV consoles at all. There are just too many fantastic games to play, and more arrive every single day—often created by the ‘garage’ indies Nintendo’s dismissing. Their loss.
Absolutely! Oh, and I’m also pretty fond of the Wiz too… It’s perfect for emulators, though I must admit them weird indies and gorgeous classic adventures on the iPhone are quite incredible. Oh, and I got the GBA micro too. Love the screen 🙂
You can’t be surprised. They have something to lose, so they’re going to protect it. I’m a longtime Nintendo fan too, but the bloom is off the rose. Nintendo is behaving like an “old media” company, much like:
– Brick and mortar record stores like Sam Goody or Tower Records, in response to iTunes,
– Brick and mortar game shops like Gamestop, in response to XBLA, PSN, and Amazon,
– Cable TV providers, in response to Netflix,
– Blockbuster Video, in response to Netflix,
– Network TV channels, in response to Netflix,
– Print media like the Wall Street Journal or the New York Times, in response to Google News,
– Traditional glue-and-paper publishers, in response to Amazon’s Kindle (and to a lesser extent, Apple’s iBooks)
All of these old media joints try to appeal to nostalgia, inertia, and vested interests. Few of them seem to have the vision to adapt and attempt to give the consumer what we want.
Nintendo made playing cards for over 80 years prior to getting into toys, which led them to video games. I think it’s reasonable to expect them to reinvent themselves once again in response to then changing landscape.
Totally agree.
I’m not sure I interpret what is being said by Nintendo as either a big change in policy, or indeed a major snub to the “garage” developers.
Their policy has always been “we control what plays on our hardware”. Every generation.
The point is, Wii Ware and DS(i) Ware have brought in new ideas and new talent, as well as encouraging older developers to think in new ways. That will no doubt continue with the 3DS.
What Reggie is trying to say is “don’t expect thousands of new games on the 3DS from tiny developers”. Instead, expect them to reach out to middle-sized companies with a proven track record, or developers they want to work on the hardware.
“Instead, expect them to reach out to middle-sized companies with a proven track record, or developers they want to work on the hardware.”
…then put a really rubbish shop in place, next to no internal storage and a threshold on payments that you probably won’t meet unless you’re a juggernaut of marketing prowess so you can effectively work for nowt.
Huzzah!
“If ever I needed proof that Nintendo had utterly lost it regarding gaming, this is it.”
Meanwhile, the 3DS is Amazon UK’s most pre-ordered system, ever. I wish I had as utterly lost it as Nintendo has.
Apple is happy with cheap, free, small games. Nintendo isn’t. Different markets. Both will do very well.
BTW, of the three big console manufacturers, Nintendo has the most lenient rules, and is the easiest to get into for indies. Which isn’t exactly a good thing, because it has the effect that there’s a ton of crap in Nintendo’s online stores. Kinda like on the iPhone, except not nearly as bad.
but what’s a true indie developer then, if it is isn’t a (former) garage thing.. when did firemint became salonfähig in nintendo’s eyes, when they saw the succes of flight control?